The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.

Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.

Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.

August 21, 2007

Written by C.N.

All around the Internet, the topic of interracial dating and marriage among Asian Americans is a hotly-debated topic. There are lots of strong opinions on both sides and discussions on blogs and message boards can get pretty hot rather quickly on this topic. Within this context, as a sociologist, I try to contribute valid and reliable research and data that will hopefully help people understand the phenomenon in a slightly more objective way. Toward that end, Asian News in Britain has an article that looks at interracial dating and marriage patterns among British Asians:

Whilst 87 per cent of white people would consider a mixed race marriage, just over half of Asians felt the same. Only 53 per cent of Asians would consider dating someone who is white and 44 per cent of Asians would consider dating someone who is black. Twice as many young white people would go out with a black person as would a young Asian whilst just 44 per cent of Asians would do so.

Young Asians appear to have a very different attitude to homosexuality compared to whites. Under half of young Asians think homosexuality is immoral compared to eight per cent of young white people.

The picture here seems to suggest that in contrast to Asian Americans and to British Whites, British Asians are less likely to consider interracial dating and marriage — they are more likely to prefer to stay with their own racial/ethnic group.

Overall, I guess I’m not surprised because I have heard informally that British Asians are not as assimilated into mainstream British society as Asian Americans are assimilated into mainstream American society. I am not sure what is the reason for that, however. It may be that British Asians (most of whom tend to be Indian if I’m correct) choose to stay socially separate from mainstream British, or that mainstream British are perhaps less welcoming of Asians than their American counterparts.